Easthampton artist Rosemary Barrett's multi-dimensional works on display at Wistariahurst gallery in Holyoke

Easthampton artist Rosemary Barrett is seen in her studio.Judith Kelliher photo

EASTHAMPTON—Artist Rosemary Barrett goes to flea markets as well as antique and tag sales to find seemingly disconnected items that “speak” to her.

In turn, she translates the random items into pieces of art. Using the multi-dimensional art form known as “assemblage,” she arranges her finds such as baby rattles, zippers, beadwork and a pin cushion inside two- or three-dimensional boxes in ways that she hopes connects with those who view her work.

Twenty-five years ago Barrett created assemblages and gained notoriety for her work, exhibiting at the Springfield Museums and the Herter Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. She got away from that medium for a while when she moved out of the area, lived in Connecticut and worked in New York before returning to Easthampton a year-and-a-half ago.

Now, she is poised to continue with the artistry that inspires her.

“I remembered how much I loved doing it. It gave me such a feeling of ‘wow, where did that come from,’ so it’s another voice for me. I think it’s my ‘poetry voice,’” she said.

Barrett’s assemblage artwork is on exhibit at the Wistariahurst gallery, 238 Cabot St., Holyoke. Her “Visual Poetry: Assemblage Works by Rosemary Barrett” show, described as a look at the “forbidden landscape of the psyche,” runs through the end of December.

Creating this type of art seemed to come on a lark for Barrett. Many years ago she was cleaning her house and decided to either keep stuff or throw it out. She wasn’t sure why she decided to keep certain items but she started putting them together inside boxes—some often made of wood, porcupine quills and woven from grass, knowing that each piece had some kind of history and evoked an emotion in her.

“The pieces sort of come together,” said Barrett, who also works at New England Felt Supply on Cottage Street as a salesperson and display artist.

Barrett shares creative space with her boyfriend and artist Kevin MacDonald, a sculptor and cabinet maker, at the Eastworks building on Pleasant Street. She also teaches sculpture, mold-making and painting in that studio. Inside one half of the location, Barrett has a counter that serves as her creative workspace and is filled with pieces that she sees as a “work in progress.”

An example of her work is one she created to pay homage to her father by assembling items that he owned—inside a three-dimensional wooden box—that “tell a story about him.” For Barrett, she can honor her father by keeping his memorabilia on display, rather than inside a drawer, she said. The assemblage includes a pin from the National Radio Institute where he once worked repairing radios and TVs and horns from the first deer he ever shot.

For her exhibit at the Wistariahurst, Barrett hopes that people come to see her work and get out of it what she does.

“To me it’s like making a difference in somebody’s life when you can bring a little bit of sunshine or satisfaction. Some feeling of movement in somebody’s body,” she said.

For Barrett, the creative process sometimes takes a while.

“I try and step away from my work and not think about it too much. Then you can overthink it,” she said. “I just go with my gut.”